Pokemon X & Y: 5 Things Nintendo Should Do (And 5 Things To Avoid)

If you aren’t already aware that Pokemon, Nintendo’s second best-selling game series, is getting a 6th generation of games in the form of Pokemon X & Y this coming October, you might be living under a Graveler. It is certain, of course, that Pokemon X & Y will sell million of copies worldwide, but what can Nintendo do (and what should Nintendo avoid) to Make X & Y the best in the series?

Things Nintendo Should Do:Explore new dual-type combinations
We have enough Ground-Rock and Water-Ice typed Pokemon already. Show us some new Type combinations. We haven’t seen Fire-Water or Rock-Electric or Poison-Dragon typed Pokemon yet. I’ll give those ideas to you for free, Nintendo.

Player character customization
I think this is what everyone has been waiting for. Why should I be stuck playing the game as some kid with a dumb beret? Let me choose my character’s hat or shirt or hair style. I want to feel like I’m in the game, and the best way to do that would be to let me make my character look more like me.

Have the first Pokemon in your party follow you
I hold Heart Gold and Soul Silver in high regard for two reasons: Nintendo remade my favorite Pokemon games with added content, and they let you have a Pokemon follow you around outside of its Pokeball. Nintendo hadn’t let a Pokemon follow you around since Pokemon Yellow, and it was perhaps the main reason anyone wanted to buy Yellow in the first place. If you really want to make everyone happy, Nintendo, you need to bring this back. The biggest letdown of Black and White was that you let Pokemon follow us around in Heart Gold/Soul Silver and then you took it away.

Allow players to visit an older region
What made Gold/Silver/Crystal my favorite Pokemon games was the ability to revisit Kanto after beating the Elite 4. You mean I get to go back and fight the Gym Leaders from Red and Blue after I beat the Elite 4, but they have better teams? That blew my mind as a kid. It was like playing Red and Blue with new Pokemon again. I would gladly pay double for X & Y if it has this feature.

Increase the length of the campaign / Increase the amount of things to do post-Elite 4
Content content content. I want this to be a huge experience for me, and the best way to do so is to have a lot of content that occurs both before and after I beat the Elite 4. There should be a massive plot line that takes me all over this new region, and I want new areas to be open to me once I beat the Elite 4. I shouldn’t be able to see everything X & Y has to offer in a day.

Things Nintendo Should Avoid:You can only catch 6th Generation Pokemon until you beat the Elite 4
I really disliked this about Black and White. Why was I forced into making a team from only the new Pokemon until I beat the Elite 4? That never made any sense to me. We all have a favorite Pokemon, and I understand that you obviously can’t include every single Pokemon before the Elite 4, but X & Y should be able to keep some of the old Pokemon while still allowing us to experience the new ones.

Making more unnecessary legendary Pokemon
There were 5 legendary Pokemon in Red/Blue, 6 in Gold/Silver, 10 in Ruby/Sapphire, 14 in Diamond/Pearl, and 13 in Black/White for a total of 48 legendary Pokemon. We have enough. They’re “legendary” for a reason.

Making Fennekin evolve into a Fire-Fighting Pokemon
Looking at the final evolved forms of the past 5 Fire-type starter Pokemon, the last three in a row are Fire-Fighting. Break this disgusting habit, Nintendo. We want variety.

Making a bunch of useless pre-evolved Pokemon
We don’t need any more of these, Nintendo. I thought the Johto “baby” Pokemon were a neat addition at first, but then I realized they were just filler. We don’t need more useless “baby” Pokemon that you made because you ran out of ideas.

Making a lot more Water-type Pokemon
This might sound like a weird request, but there are currently 93 Water-type Pokemon. I’d like to see more Ghost, Dragon, and Ice-type Pokemon, oh which there are only 18, 19, and 23 respectively.

Honorable Mentions:Evolve some of the older Pokemon
One of the best features of Diamond/Pearl was the ability to evolve Pokemon like Electabuzz and Magneton. I’d love to see this happen again (For example, I’d love to see new evolutions for Tauros or Pinsir).

Keep Reusable TMs
This was a welcomed addition to Black/White. Now I can use TMs as many times as I want, just like HMs. Keep this feature in X & Y.

Keep InfraRed Trading/Battling
I hated going to the Union Room and trading one Pokemon at a time. Allowing players to trade almost immediately from bother their party and their PC boxes was fantastic.

Examine the competitive battling scene
So many Pokemon are just not fit for the competitive battling scene due to their typing (which can’t be helped at this point) or their stats, but some Pokemon are only hindered by their movesets. It would be great to see some of those Pokemon learn better moves so that they become competitively viable.

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